On Friday, we revealed that the favorite horror movies of director John Carpenter, the man who brought us 1978âs slasher classic Halloween, are 1951âs The Thing from Another World and 1958âs The Fly. But what does David Gordon Green, who directed the just-released sequel Halloween, regard as the best-ever creep-out? The answer is Charles Laughtonâs 1955 film The Night of the Hunter, in which the great Robert Mitchum plays a preacher-cum-serial killer named Reverend Harry Powell.

âNight of the Hunter is the film from my youth that really opened the door,â says Green. âThat was a stepping stone into the more gratuitous genre horror. I guess youâd probably call it more of a thriller, but that was a movie that really affected me in terms of everything from the music and songs Robert Mitchum âs character would sing, and Charles Laughtonâs amazing camerawork. It got under my skin, it really disturbed me as a kid, and then I used that as a stepping stone into more obvious genre work. I mean, Halloween was shortly thereafter. The Shining was shortly thereafter. These are the films that I really discovered in the mid-â80s when I was probably a little too young to be processing it, and then a little too excited about the disturbing images that were making their way into my subconscious.â

Watch the trailer for The Night of the Hunter, above.

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